Appeal No. 1998-0548
Application No. 08/498,845
103. In particular, we agree with examiner that it would have been obvious for one with
ordinary skill in the art to combine the Mitsui and Don teachings in the manner proposed.
Notwithstanding the appellants' contrary view, it is our determination that the artisan would
have been motivated to so combine these teachings in order to obtain the advantages of
conducting the partial hydrogenation reaction under consideration in the presence of water
as taught by Mitsui (e.g., see the paragraph bridging columns
4 and 5) and to avoid the drawbacks of liquid-phase hydrogenation in comparison with
gas-phase hydrogenation as taught by Don (e.g., see the penultimate paragraph in column
1).
Having determined that the examiner has carried his burden of establishing a prima
facie case of obviousness, we now proceed to retrace our analysis while giving
appropriate consideration to all the evidence of record including the appellants' evidence
of nonobviousness. In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA
1976).
In this regard, the appellants urge that "the unexpected results of the instant
invention rebut any finding of obviousness" (brief, 3rd page ). According to the appellants,
these results are shown in figure 1 of their drawing wherein Examples 42
3
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